Live Unashamed

MPT: Paul reminded believers that the Gospel shaped their identity and empowered their mission with confidence.

MPS: Let the Gospel shape your identity to give you the confidence to be on mission for Him.

3 REASONS WHY YOU CAN LIVE UNASHAMED

INTRODUCTION

Let’s continue worshipping the Lord this morning. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and start making your way to the book of Romans chapter 1 verses 1-17, we are starting a brand new series and we are going to go through the whole book of Romans. If you are new to the Bible, Romans isn’t hard to find, if you go to the New Testament you have the 4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John, then the book of Acts and then Romans. If you didn’t bring a Bible that’s okay, there is a copy in the back of the pew in front of you, and if you don’t own a Bible, please, keep that Bible, take it home, read it, and learn about the God who loves you and desires a relationship with you, Romans 1:1-17.

It’s hard to believe that we are already in October, but October is no doubt the greatest sports month of the year. October is the only month where all 4 major sports are played. Both the NBA and NHL kick off their seasons on October, post-season baseball is always fun to watch, but most importantly, we are in the middle of football season. Now, I mean American football, but if soccer is your thing that is also going on. Whether you lean toward professional football or the far superior college football, It’s a great time to watch football. Football fans are some of the most dedicated fans in existence. The tension between fans of rival teams are second to none. No matter how bad your favorite team is doing, you stand by them through thick and thin. There are a lot of teams this season with high hopes that have not performed well. For the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens have not lived up to expectations. For college football, Texas started the season number one, and they came into week 5 unranked. Clemson and South Carolina haven’t played as well as expected either. Now, being born and raised in Spartanburg, I grew up a Clemson. From the time I was 8 until I graduated high school, I went to several home games a season, including the famous Clemson/Carolina game where the brawl on the field happened. And look, I was a fan during the Tommy Bowden era, so I grew up with just average Clemson football, but that stadium is full every home game. But, as most of you may know, I went to college at Liberty University, so now I consider myself a Liberty fan. This is photo of all 5 of us at a homecoming game a few years ago. Liberty has never been known for college football, they’ve only been in Division 1 FBS for a few years, but they had high hopes when brought Hugh Freeze back into coaching after his fall from grace, and they were put on the map. But now they have a new coach that just isn’t living up to the hype. But the great thing about college football, is we never give up on our teams. No matter how poorly our teams our doing, we will always represent them. Now the question I have for you this morning, is do you represent your identity as a Christ follower as much as you represent your identity as a fan of a certain team? Do you talk about the great things God is doing in your life as much as you talk about how great the game was?

In this letter to the Romans, Paul addressed the tension that took place between the Jewish Christians, and the Gentile Christians, and made it clear that they are in this together. Paul reminded those believers that the Gospel shaped their identity and empowered their mission with confidence. So, in today’s passage, we are going to see three reasons why you can live unashamed.

CONTEXT

The Apostle Paul is the undisputed author of Romans. Romans is strategically placed in your Bible. In the New Testament, we have the 4 Gospels that that highlight Jesus’s life and ministry, then Acts which tells the start of the Christian church, then Romans which provides the theological foundation for the remainder of the epistles. Scholars believe that this was written in AD 56 or 57 while Paul was in Corinth during his third missionary journey. When Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome around AD 49 (see Acts 18:2), the Roman church suddenly became mostly Gentile. As more Gentiles joined, the makeup and culture of the church naturally began to change. Then, after Claudius died in AD 54, Jewish believers started returning to Rome. Paul wrote this letter right in that moment—when Jewish and Gentile Christians were learning how to come together again and live in real unity through the gospel. Now, Paul have never visited this church, he didn’t have a part in planting this church, which is why as we go through this letter together, we see Paul be more articulate about the Gospel then in any other letter. The overall purpose for this letter is Jesus is the Lord of all and the true Son of Abraham who fulfills God’s promises. In Him, we share those promises—especially the hope of a renewed world where the Spirit empowers us to love God and others as we live now in light of the future. So the first reason you can live unashamed is

The Gospel gives you a new identity (1-7)

(V1) Paul was a Roman citizen, and was writing to the church in Rome. He could have boasted about that, but instead, he chose to say he was a servant. To the Romans, that was the lowest of the low. Servants were at their master’s disposal. So why say he was a servant? Because Paul wanted to illustrate that he was wholly devoted to Christ. He identified himself as a servant before identifying himself as an apostle. In a way he used the title of servant to leverage into his title of apostle. Remember, Paul had never visited this church before, he felt the need to establish himself to the Roman church. While the title of apostle is important, his service to Christ was first and foremost. Also, not everyone will be an apostle, but everyone can and should be a servant to Christ.

As you process through the Gospel giving you a new identity, you need to understand that you are not who you think you are until you belong to Christ. Some of you in here struggle with your identity. You put too much pressure on identifying yourself by your career. Especially for us men. What do we do when first meet another guy? We ask him what “what do you do”? And even that question alone, sounds so vague, but we automatically know what is being asked because it’s expected. Look I get it. Early in our marriage, my wife, Ariana, became a grown up way before I did. She finished her degree before I did and start working for the federal government. But I had no interest in finishing my degree, and just took the first job that came along. So when we talked to people, they were always more impressed with her job than mine, and that began to eat at me. I would feel down because I wasn’t measuring up to what a man should. It took a long time for me to get over that and to realize that having a less impressive job than my wife didn’t mean that I wasn’t providing for my family. In fact, it’s given me more opportunities to be present with my kids. To pick them up from school and be the first person they see after a long day. To be more intentional with discipling them. I have a better understanding that I belong to Christ first, and everything I do flows out of that. Identity crisis doesn’t stop at career, it can be anything we use to define ourselves. It can be our marital status, our status as parents, our hobbies, our illnesses. For those of you with a scary diagnosis, if you understand that you belong to Christ first, then have hope that whatever you are going through doesn’t define you.

(V2-4) Paul quickly moves away from himself to articulate Christ in great detail. Paul talked about Christ more than himself when explaining his identity. He points out that God’s plan in the Old Testament carries through and reaches its fulfillment in the New Testament. Paul explicitly lays out the Gospel here in 3 & 4. He speaks of the incarnation of Jesus, that Jesus is fully and completely a man. Paul preached about Jesus being more than an imaginary figure or some half-god half-man. He preached of Jesus, the one who was truly one with the people he came to save. He preached about the resurrection. That Jesus is more than just a heroic casualty of a spiritual war. He preached about the one who defeated death by raising himself up. Other worldly religious figures are dead and have stayed dead. But our God resurrected from the dead so that He could provide us salvation. Because Paul did not have a hand in planting this church in Rome, he wanted to give them a clear and concise explanation of the Gospel. He doesn’t stop here, he used the rest of this epistle to explain the Gospel in more detail. That’s how important the Gospel was to Paul. That’s how important it should be to us too.

(V5-7) Paul described receiving grace. Grace describes a gift which is free and unearned. Before Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, he sought glory in the eyes of man and merit in the sight of God because of his observance to the law. After encountering the resurrected Jesus, Paul then knew it didn’t matter what he had done, but what God had done. Paul saw that salvation doesn’t depend on what we do, but what God’s love has done. Paul reminds the Roman church that he was sent to bring the Gospel to the gentiles so they could be saved. Paul, the pharisee of the pharisees, who wanted nothing to do with the gentiles was now tasked to help save them, and takes on his calling head first. See, obedience and faith go hand in hand. We should be obedient to Christ because we know that our faith is real and true. Paul expressed that the Romans are also called by Jesus into relationship with him, and those in relationship with Him are called saints.

The same goes for you. You who are in Christ are set apart and called saints. Paul calls for obedience in verse 5, so what happens when we fail at that. It means confess your sin, but don’t let your sin define you. Understanding that the Gospel has given you a new identity is understanding that you have been saved by Grace and forgiveness. By acknowledging that you are a sinner and in need of a savior. The reality is, we are still going to mess up. We are still going to choose things over God. We will still struggle with idols in our life. Don’t let your failures start to become who you are. Don’t allow the enemy to convince you that you aren’t saved. The Gospel is bigger than our sin. The Gospel transforms us and we are adopted by God and called His children. Confess your sin, repent of it, ask God for forgiveness. That doesn’t mean you should keep sinning, or that it’s okay to sin. But if you truly embrace the identity the Gospel has given you, then you won’t let sin control your life, you will let the Gospel control your life.

The second reason why you can lived unashamed is…

The Gospel gives you a purposeful mission (8-15)

(V8) What Paul means by the world is most likely referring to the Roman empire, which controlled the entire Mediterranean at that time. When we think about it, the Roman Empire was the pinnacle of civilization. They were at the top in every category like education, technology, economics, the military, yet, Paul recognized that this church in Rome was making an impact for the Gospel. In spite of the powerful government, and greco-roman paganism, the Gospel is making an impact.

(V9-10) We see Paul has structured these two verses in a very specific and intentional way. He starts in verse 9 by speaking again about his service to God. He’s made a missional statement that he is called to serve God, and that mission is to tell people about the good news of Jesus Christ. That’s it. It’s not a big, elaborate mission, it’s simply telling people about Jesus. Now we see a shift. Paul moves in his missional statement from God first, to now the church in Rome, the ones he’s writing too. He prays that if it’s God’s will, he wants to come to them as part of his mission. But only if God allows him to go. Here’s why Paul wants to go.

(V11-13) Paul wants to share his spiritual gift with them to help strengthen them. We don’t exactly know what Paul meant by imparting some spiritual gift, I think he means to share his gift of leadership and teaching. If the Roman church is making an impact in the Roman world, then imagine the impact they’ll make with Paul’s help. Paul desires to strengthen this church so they can continue to be on mission. Paul wanted to encourage this church, but to also be encouraged by them. Remember when we went through the book of 1 Corinthians last fall, Paul mentioned at the end of that letter how he was in the company of 3 believers from Corinth and how having fellow believers around him refreshed his spirit. Paul knew the benefit of being around fellow believers. He knew there was something special about believers supporting one another. Which is why the local church is important. We encourage, edify, and keep each other accountable. Which is why I get annoyed by people who say they are a Christian, but don’t go to church because you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. Yes, that is technically true, but what we see in Scripture, and people working together for the Gospel, not in solidarity. Being involved in a faith family is special. Paul also wanted to see the fruit of this ministry for himself, and he wanted to lend a hand. Paul isn’t being arrogant here. Paul was specifically approached by the resurrected Jesus to evangelize to the gentiles, so what better place to reach the gentiles then Rome?

So what we see in verses 11-13, is Paul’s desire to visit the church in Rome, but he isn’t letting his desire to visit them interfere with what he’s called to do. Because in verse 10, Paul said he would come if God willed it. So when you understand that the Gospel gives you a purposeful mission, don’t let your desires overshadow the mission. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes our desires do align with God’s will, but we also have the potential to fabricate what we think should be the mission. I’ve gotten a wake up call recently about that. I’ve had desires for ministry that I’ve been wanting to get involved in, but after taking a step back, and talking it over with Pastor Buck and Lindsey, my desires don’t align with what truly helps with the mission of serving this community. I’ve wanted to be more involved with college ministry, but the colleges here aren’t that close. Both the Citadel and College of Charleston are much closer to Northwood East Bay than here, and CSU is much closer to Northwood Greenridge. There are solid churches much closer to those schools than me, so I don’t need to focus my time over there, I need to stay focused on this community. So for me, and for all of us, we need to be like Paul and consistently pray for the mission.

Again, in verse 10 we see that Paul is praying for this church regularly for him to visit so he can help them with the mission overall. We cannot underestimate the power of prayer, especially when it comes to praying for God’s will. That’s why we gather every Wednesday night for prayer. We pray for this church, and our role in this community. When we pray to God, we are to bring our requests to Him in a posture of submission. We are to pray for God’s will to be done, and for our will to transform into His will. I’m sure when Paul prayed that he would get to visit the church in Rome that he didn’t mean as a prisoner. Remember, Paul wrote to Corinth that he was on his way to collect money take to Jerusalem. Then he was going to come to Rome so he get help on his way to Spain. Well, Paul never made it to Spain, but he did make it to Rome, but as a prisoner then most likely executed for his faith. But Paul’s imprisonment didn’t stop him from being on mission. At the end of the book of Acts, we see that Paul is under house arrest in Rome while he was under house arrest Acts 28:31 tells us that he kept “proclaiming the kingdom of God, and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” Paul didn’t sway from the mission, even when it didn’t go his way.

(V14) Most translations use the word Barbarians, but some of you may be reading out of translations that say educated and un-educated, or Greek & non-Greek. What Paul has done is broadened the scope of those who he is to reach. Not just the Greeks, but all of those who are non-jews, all the gentile people groups. He even obligated himself to those who possesses worldly wisdom, and those who might have been uneducated and considered lost causes. Remember, this was a time in history where knowledge was highly sought after.

(V15) We see in verse 14 that Paul says he has an obligation, but even though it’s an obligation, he’s still eager to preach the Gospel.

So when you think of the Gospel giving your a purposeful mission, you should be eager to go on mission.

I don’t know if any of you know who Mark Lowry is, but Mark Lowry wrote the song Mary Did You Know, but before that, he became popular while touring with the Gather Vocal Band. Mark told this story about writing that song where he had a cookout at his house and a friend of a friend was there, and that friend of a friend spoke up and said that she didn’t believe in God. Mark said he got so excited, and then said, “I’ve never had one in my home before”. The point is that the excitement doesn’t come because you encounter someone who doesn’t believe in God. The excitement comes from telling someone about the Gospel. Is your eagerness to share the Gospel getting stronger, or is it diminishing?

And look, Paul said he’s eager to preach the Gospel to the church he is writing to. The church he affirmed is making an impact for the Gospel. So the Gospel isn’t just for unbelievers. The Gospel is for everyone, believers and unbelievers alike need to be reminded of the Gospel regularly. That’s why Pastor Buck sends out that email with Milton Vincent’s Gospel Primer each week. We need the Gospel regularly, and we should be eager to evangelize to the unbeliever, and edify the believer.

So be eager to go on mission, but don’t be intimidated by the mission. The mission isn’t just for pastors and missionaries, it’s for all believers. If you are in Christ, he’s got your back, but don’t feel the need as a new believer or immature believer to jump headfirst in the deep end. Start small. Invite a friend to church, ask one person who you are comfortable with what they believe in. Come to Pastor Buck, Mrs. Lindsey, or me and share the Gospel with one of us for feedback. I know sometimes the fear of sharing the Gospel is because you are afraid you don’t have all the right answers, or that you don’t know enough. But let me ask you. Did you need to hear all the answers for you to get saved? For some of you that answer might be yes, but for a lot us, all we needed was the minimum. That Jesus Christ lived the full human experience from conception to death, and lived it perfectly. That because we are all sinners and all short of God’s glory, we deserve an eternity experiencing God’s wrath. But Jesus, who is innocent, took on all of our sin, and died the death we deserve on the cross. He rose three days later, defeating sin, defeating death, and those who believe in Him will not experience an eternity of God’s wrath, but will experience an eternity in God’s loving presence. That’s it, that’s the Gospel. And Paul goes on to explain the power of that Gospel, so…

The third reason you can live unashamed is…

The Gospel gives you a confident mission (16-17)

(16) Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel that many others find foolish. Remember, back when we went through 1 Corinthians, 1 Cor 1:22-23 says. We hear objections to the Gospel today. People say that Jesus was a myth, or that we believe in a fairy tale. I get it, to the world our faith seems foolish. We believe in a triune God, a God that is three persons one essence, how is that possible? There is no earthly illustration that best fits the trinity. Jesus died and then was raised from the dead 3 days later. Well, people stay dead, especially for 3 days, so that doesn’t make sense. There is only one way to get to Heaven. That one throws a lot of people off, we get called selfish for that one. And there are many other aspects of our faith that the world calls foolish, that they are too smart to believe that stuff. But Paul gladly wears that badge for the sake of the Gospel. Jesus warned his disciples about the same thing in Mark 8:38. The disciples were warned that the mission won’t be easy, and just about all of them were martyred for their faith.

Paul explains why he isn’t ashamed of the Gospel, because the Gospel is God’s power for salvation. This is it, this is salvation, understanding and accepting the Gospel. I mentioned earlier how some people balk a the idea that there is only one way to Heaven, but I think it’s brilliant. In a way, it takes the pressure off right? If there were multiple ways to get to Heaven, I would get overwhelmed and wonder if I picked the right one. I don’t like a lot of choices. That’s why every year when I go to that board game convention Ariana calls the bank and has my card cut off for that week. Because I’ll buy a game, and then see another one I like, then another one, then another one, the pursuit for the perfect board game is endless. But the pursuit for salvation is right here, in the Gospel.

To understand that the Gospel gives you confidence means to let the Gospel do the work. That should take some of the pressure off. Charles Spurgeon said, “The gospel is like a caged lion. It does not need to be defended, it just needs to be let out of its cage.” Like I said earlier, you don’t have to be eloquent (listen to me right), you don’t have to have all the answers. But don’t be wishy-washy about the Gospel either. Be confident in your convictions. People are going to push back, and when they do, you don’t need to rely on how to defend your faith as much as you need to have confidence in your faith. People reject Jesus because they are prideful. They feel like they can get into Heaven, on their own. People reject Jesus because they feel confronted or convicted by their sin, and none of us like that. So when there is push back, lean on God, talk about His holiness and sovereignty, how no matter what you do on earth, it will never be good enough to get into Heaven. The only thing you can do is trust in Jesus Christ, He has done all the work for you. And all you desire to do, is to live like Him, and tell others about Him.

(V17) Does this sound familiar? It should. We just finished the book of Habakkuk, and Paul here quotes Habakkuk 2:4. Now remember, God said this to Habakkuk in response to Habakkuk’s second lament to God. Habakkuk had just said he was going to wait for God, and God responded with “wait longer” then says “the righteous one will live by faith”. That faith is in the promises of God. Habakkuk lived in faith even when God’s plan didn’t make sense to him. And what Paul is getting at here is God has fulfilled His promises by sending Jesus to bestow God’s righteousness on those who believe in Him. The righteousness God requires from us is the righteousness God has provided for us in Jesus. So again, that should take the pressure off of you. So use that to let the Gospel drive you.

What is it that prevents the Gospel from driving you? Fear of man? Fear of not knowing what to say? Hidden sin and low assurance? Worried that it’s your job to convert rather than trusting God? Little intimacy with God? Misplaced identity? Sharing faith just not important to you? Remember, it’s the Gospel that has the power to save, not you. All you have to do put it out there. This is not major league baseball, you don’t have to throw a 99 mile per hour heater, this is slow pitch softball, just lob it up and let God crush it.

The more you embrace the Gospel for yourself, and the more you remind yourself of the Gospel daily, the more you will let the Gospel drive you into having Gospel conversations. I’m going to ask a few gentlemen to come up here and pass out these oikos cards. Oikos in greek means household. At the end of the service, I want you to write down five people who you can share the Gospel with. What would happen if every one of us committed to sharing the Gospel with five people by the time we end the Book of Romans? We are going to be in Romans for about 6 months. People would get saved! Ask God to give you the boldness to share the Gospel with 5 people over the next six months. It’s the Gospel that has the power to save, it’s the Gospel that gives you a new identity, a purposeful mission, and a confident mission. Let’s pray.

The praise and worship team are going to come up, and we are going to have a time of invitation. For the believer here today, I hope the opening of this rich letter encourages you to prioritize the Gospel in your life. That you allow the Gospel to give you your identity, and then let the Gospel do what it does, bring people from death to life. For the unbeliever in here today, I know the struggle for finding your identity is difficult. Our culture puts so much pressure on you to discover who you truly and then tell you that there are infinite options. I’m here to tell you that the pressure is off. Jesus has done all the work for you, place your faith in Him. Like I said, we are going to have a time of invitation, if you need prayer, or you are ready to trust in Christ, I’ll be down front however you need to respond.